Monday, August 3, 2009

VST is hard!

After looking really great a couple of weeks ago, Devon has not been tracking well. She's losing confidence and avoiding non-veg. Last week in an effort to build some confidence, I gave her a TD track, which she really loved. I haven't seen that kind of spark in her for a while.

But our VST track last Friday evening again showed her avoidance and lack of confidence. I was really frustrated when she'd been doing such a great job. She loves this game and I want to get that spark back. I think we've finally decided she's just doing too much hard stuff right now.

VST is hard. Page can do veg tracks of 500-600 yards long, but I've found during the last two weeks 300 yards is her max on VST. Devon's training has been so focused on preparing for her Senior Hunt tests this fall, we've had little time to really work tracking. And when we have it's longer tracks with no chalk or any other help.

So, I've made the decision to back off the VST tracks for the next couple of months as we prepare for and run Senior Hunt Tests. I'm still going to train her, but I'm going to give her less length with lots of articles and help on the hard surfaces.

Sunday evening's tracks


Sunday evening I revisited a track Devon had problems with a couple of weeks ago, but I split it into two tracks, one for Devon and one for Page. The purple track here was Devon's track. I laid lots of articles on it for rewards. It was 306 yards long with 122 yards of non-veg. It was aged 3 hours when she ran it.

Before the first turn onto the sidewalk, Devon crittered and found something to munch on. I corrected her for it and told her to get back to work and she quickly did knowing I was annoyed.

It took her a little bit to commit to the second leg, and I'm sure it was because it was on non-veg. I wouldn't let her do her frantic circling but settled her in to work. She got back to work quickly and was rewarded with her first article.

While it's not noted on the map, they've added a mulched playground area where Devon's 3rd leg was. She's tracked this before and done poorly. When I laid the track and walked into this courtyard, I smelled a strong scent of animal urine. After Devon's second poor performance in this mulched playground, including avoiding then eating very badly smelling mulch and frothing at the mouth, I believe some or many types of animals use this as their litter box. I don't think we'll track this area again.

The rest of Devon's track went well with the exception of the turn onto the parking lot. Devon again showed her circling avoidance behavior. I let her work for three passes, then stopped her, watered her, rescented her and told her to get to work. She wanted to get frantic again, but she quickly saw the chalk I used on just this section. It settled her down, and she worked well across the parking lot to another article reward.

This track was just what Devon needed. It was a confidence builder, and she gave me some nice work. I think doing a variety of tracking with her and keeping things short and simple is the answer.

Page's track is above in orange. It was 266 yards long with 152 yards of non-veg. It was aged 2.5 hours when we ran it; the longest age she has run on VST.

Page did a very good job with this track. She was strong off her one flag start coming in at 90 degrees. She committed quickly to the non-veg and worked it nose down. She spent a lot of time on her non-veg turn 2, and you could tell when she was on the track because her head shot over in the direction of the track. It is just amazing to watch this little girl problem solve!

Again, the satellite photo is old, so you cannot see she crosses a circular driveway with sidewalks and mulched beds. She handled this area like a dream. Her article indications weren't great; she only gave me a firm nose touch on each. But she did a swift, competent job on this track.

So, sounds like we have a tracking plan for the rest of the summer. I have lots of work to do, but I'm really going to enjoy all of the variety we'll see!

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